Written by You can trust Louder
Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.
It’s been 34 years since Megadeth came tantalisingly close to landing a number one album in the US with Countdown To Extinction, only to fall at the last hurdle thanks to Billie Ray Cyrus. Justice finally prevailed for Dave Mustaine’s merry band of thrashers in January when their final, self-titled album topped the Billboard 200. Now the band are looking to go out on a high, their farewell tour stopping in for a massive slot on Sonic Temple’s Cathedral Stage.
We’ll admit, we had misgivings. Megadeth’s tour supporting Disturbed in arenas across Europe last Autumn was far from the most incendiary performances the band had put on, a killer setlist only doing so much to make up for sluggish energy. At Sonic Temple, they’ve found that divine spark again. There’s a grin on Mustaine’s face as he greets the crowd and introduces newer tune Let There Be Shred, the band flying off on some virtuosic old school thrash that brings to mind the frantic fretwork of debut Killing Is My Business.
The big anthems are, well, anthemic, Megadeth getting stuck into them with a zeal that in turn seems to egg on a fanatic crowd. Angry Again ups the groove, while Mustaine’s delivery on Sweating Bullets feels genuinely menacing and manic. During Peace Sells, the band are joined by mascot Vic Rattlehead, the grinning skull bopping and bouncing around the stage as the crowd howl the song’s iconic refrain in delight.
Latest Videos From Louder
Perhaps the biggest criticism of Megadeth’s most recent output is that they’ve lost some of their fiery defiance that made them so formidable in the first place. Teeing up closer Holy Wars… The Punishment Due, Mustaine admits that the song was “written over 30 years ago at the start of the 90s about the Middle East. It’s still relevant today.”
It’s a biting remark that reminds us that they were always the most vocally active of the Big Four, and when the epic song gets underway with thrash metal suites and movements, you can’t help but feel that we’re losing Megadeth sooner than we’d have hoped. Still, it’s great to have them so triumphant again.
